Stephen King defends Bob Dylan win

In October, the whole world was stunned when 75-year-old rock legend Bob Dylan was announced as the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition”

Some writers, authors and readers opposed the move, but one novelist has come to the defense of The Bard: Stephen King.

In a piece on Rolling Stone entitled “Why Bob Dylan Deserves the Nobel Prize”, King spoke vehemently against those who believe the singer does not deserve it and pointed out his impact on popular culture.

"People complaining about his Nobel either don't understand or it's just a plain old case of sour grapes. I've seen several literary writers who have turned their noses up at the Dylan thing, like Gary Shteyngart. Well, I've got news for you, Gary: There are a lot of deserving writers who have never gotten the Nobel Prize. And Gary Shteyngart will probably be one of them. That's no reflection on his work. You have to rise to the level of a Faulkner if you're an American."

According to King, no other musician has had such an impact on popular culture or remained so influential for so long as Dylan.

"He opened the door for a lot of people. I would argue that without Dylan, Paul Simon maybe ends up in the Brill Building, writing songs like Hey Schoolgirl like he did in the beginning,” he told the magazine.

Read the speech in its entirety on Rolling Stone.

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